Children of Benin West Africa for Mom and Dad

These Natitingou, Benin, West Africa children photos remind me of my Mother and Father in Orland, Indiana, United States of America.

Benin Children Photos for Mom and Dad

I owe everything to my Mother and Father in the USA; they gave me life, love, laughter, and the celebration of family. Sometimes people I meet traveling the world ask me why manners are important.And I say,“My Mother is watching.”The person often replies,“But your Mother is not here.”“Yes she is!""Trust me, she knows what I am doing."

“And, where is yours?”

Yesterday, I handed the camera to a Benin girl here West African saying,“You must take this photo my Mother would love this.”

The children of Benin and Togo, West Africa sing this song as I pass, I hear it maybe 50-100 times per day.

Family Photos

There were no poor children in any of these photos, Andy Graham the photographer, these children are quite rich, school uniforms, bags, and waiting for taxis to take them home from school. Red dirt is not poor, it is red dirt, and black is not poor, it is black.

That kind of epitomizes the NGO response. It is different, you do not understand, or it does not compare with your fantasy of what reality should be, aka USA, then they are poor. It is a knee jerk reaction. It is the reason NGOs flourish. Would the worlds many farmers who earn a good subsistence, farming rice, corn, or tobacco be better off living in a bigger house, working at a call center, and being totally at the mercy of a foreign corporation. I think I would rather own my own land and home and not be subject to the whims and moods of a foreign boss thousands of miles away.
By US standards a lot of the farmers are poor. But by their standards they are doing well.
That is not to say that some aid organizations are not good. Lots of the hospitals have missions to places like the Philippines. They do surgery and treatments for free that the locals could not afford. That is good. Very good. And some educational aid is good.
And helping build new schools and install better water systems is also a worthy cause. But it would be a mistake to assume that everyone is poor just because the street is not paved. Lots of streets and roads in the US and Australia are not paved. Maybe our poor children need some aid and attention.
Phil